WASHINGTON, Jan. 11, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Association of Letter Carriers and the U.S. Postal Service announced Friday that the three-person interest arbitration panel chaired by arbitrator Shyam Das had concluded its work and issued an award that sets the terms of a new 4.5-year labor contract between the parties. The agreement concludes a round of collective bargaining that began in August 2011 and resulted in an impasse that led to the binding arbitration process mandated by the law governing the Postal Service.

NALC President Fredric Rolando issued the following statement regarding his union's new 2011-2016 National Agreement provided by the Das Award:

"NALC had three primary objectives in this critical round of collective bargaining: First, to protect the jobs and living standards and working conditions of the nation's 180,000 letter carriers. Second, to protect the integrity of our historic institution, the United States Postal Service. Third, to work cooperatively with all stakeholders to enable the USPS to continue to serve the American public in the Internet age by strengthening our unequaled last-mile 'delivery' capacity. This agreement meets all three objectives.

"I want to thank all the members of the NALC for their patience during this long process and for the hard work they do every day to make USPS the most affordable and efficient postal service in the world.

"This agreement rewards city carriers for their contributions and sets the stage for a major comeback for the Postal Service, provided that Congress does its part to enact real reforms to modernize the governance structure of the Postal Service, liberalize its pricing regulations and eliminate crushing legislative mandates to pre-fund future retiree health benefits that threaten our ability to serve the American people and the U.S. economy."